Love the focus on a) the right tool at b) the right time in this initial vodcast. Great opener for your vodcast series. Breath of fresh air when the well-intentioned 2.0 fumes gather too much murky cloud space over-head at times.

Not sure if these D.I.Y. (or D.I./dy, if you will) vodcasts will supplant summer dreams of watching every episode of The Wire (finally), but looking forward to it, fella.

And enjoy your time with Walsh and the BTL team this summer (and beyond). Anxious to see what y’all come up with, near- and far-term.

You the man!

Not sure if it was vimeo weirdness or artistic editing but there was a little jumpiness around 43-45 sec. This was good though; good message, entertaining. I’m looking forward to the rest.

Awesome message! I think too often we see a new toy and get all squeaky about using it in class, when something simpler might fit the bill better… good message to hear, definitely!

I enjoy reading/watching your blog. Are you sure you are a MATH teacher! LOL! No way a MATH teacher knows how to write like that–or are you cheating and really having your neighboring ENGLISH teaching colleague do the writing?! (Kidding!)

Good stuff, Mr. Meyer!

Of course the real challenge as you alluded to is the complexity of video. Just a guess, but I’m thinking this little 45 second piece took you just a wee bit longer than cranking out a typical post.

While I applaud your efforts, I’m skeptical of its sustainability. Not saying I don’t want you to but wondering with all that its involved with being a great classroom teacher if you can carve out the time to do this regularly. Prove me wrong.

I usually find myself clicking away from a website when I land on a page that uses video to give the info I want, rather than using text. Drives. Me. Crazy.

As Dan said in the video, I can read it (and get what I need by scanning if necessary) much faster than watching at the pace the communicator decided upon.

So my three questions:

Did I hang around to watch this video fully because I know him (through his blogs) and respect Dan’s view on issues, and I figured that he wouldn’t waste my time with this video?

Will I keep watching after the novelty of these videos wear off? Or will I move on to blogs that use the written word that I can read at my own pace?

Why did this message “do better” (or did it really?) as a video rather than as written words?

Any thoughts?

Mindy,

Certainly we continue to explore the use and value of video. While I’m a great proponent of its power, it does have the limitations you suggest of the inability to scan and even indepth search.

A number of colleagues are participating in a photo a day project. I usually view many of these photos each day. Another colleague started a video a day project. Even though his videos are only 30 seconds long, I haven’t been as faithful.

I still say Dan’s efforts here a valuable. I’m hoping he finds a niche and a way to make this sustainable. There’s nothing wrong with one offs but it seems Dan has hopes to make this more than that. I agree with Karen, good video is preferred over good text. Not sure if that’s true for everyone but it is for me.

H.

Many students benefit from the opportunity to review videos of the lessons. They have control over how many times they need to reveiw the instruction to help them learn the concept. If we want kids to succeed, making videos available is essential.

Math casts are available here http://schellenbergmath.wikispaces.com/Math+10

and here http://math247.pbwiki.com/Mathcasts+Library

This is a little off topic but I believe critical for student success. And this pushes my buttons since my son just flunked pre-cal (he’s on an IEP and we asked his math teacher to please upload math casts so he could review the instruction at home when he needed to. He told her that he understands it in class but not when he gets home. She refused. He flunked. Oy!)

Also, summer means slower internet connections for many – too slow for video, sometimes. Will get around to watching the whole dy/av series sometime, though, if a little late.

Lots of sons today. :-)

And yeah. I promise. I know they’re worth watching. I know they’ll be better for me than whatever other procrastination I have.

But while you are passionate about video but just really like good video, it took me watching DVDs while lesson planning to really appreciate TV.

The time you put into crafting these videos is incredible in a way I can’t begin to imagine yet. I promise I’ll keep watching them. I’ll keep sharing the word. I’ll go watch #4 right now….

Thank you, Mr. Meyer.

Seriously. Between you and JackieB I might actually get to work soon.

my thoughts:

the stuff in the videos i’ve already seen in various forms in posts.

in the time it takes to speak one sentence, i can read about 4 or 5. the data throughput for text is much higher than for voice.

i can also tune my comprehension level while i’m reading – if it’s of moderate interest, i skim quickly. if it’s thick and intellectual, i slow down and ruminate on it.

not only is reading higher bandwidth, it’s adaptive.

you can’t do that in video.

i’m sure there are lessons here, both as far as adopting technology, and as to how we interact with kids.

Dan, just had a conversation with Dean Shareski and Donna Desroche today about this very topic. It began with a conversation on the limited tools I was using to build a deck, you a general complaining type convo. It quickly became a educational web tool discussion.

Anyway, I agree with you in so many ways. I now am into the habit of looking at what I teach and trying to figure out what technological tool is most effective for me to use to engage my students. My only problem is limits: my limited knowledge of web based tools, limited hardware technology at the school, limited budget to increase hardware or software.

The point is; blogging, podcasting and vodcasting should be as standard in a classroom as book reports, essays and worksheets.

JackieB, I agree in that technology is not a magic tool. I am new to using Web2.0 apps in the classroom and have found a lot of excitement from the students. Since I started using technology in the classroom, I get WAY better results.

I still think that blogging should be a standard in every classroom. One does not need to blog everyday or spend too much time on it. Once students have a network outside of their usual classmates, they will find their own time to create podcasts, vodcasts or whatever else.

It is the networked communication that is focused on your subject area that is key. If your students are conversating with others globally about what you are doing in your classroom, the excitement alone is helping them learn. This is why I think blogging should be standard.

ps. I don’t believe we need to abolish our old teaching assignments and and use only technology, but we certainly need to take a close look at our assignments. If the students are not engaged with a worksheet, they need something different. Technology allows for an enormous amount of flexible teaching and learning opportunities.